PEACE and TOLERANCE, cost's us NOTHING, Lets ALL just do it. These are my View's and the Material's, that I have received from emails and when I surf the Internet. I do NOT and WILL NEVER approve of any form of terrorism (doing or promoting), In any Place on this Earth, especially in The OCCUPIED Palestinian Land.
May The Creator of ALL thing's grant us peace and Tolerance for All

Local Time

Saturday, March 03, 2007

No 1 Step Towards the Desired Muslim Society : Freedom from Beggary

Investing to the Needy or the Poorest will improve the standard of living for everyone

or

Enriching the People will result in greater flow of contribution of the community to the common fund in the Masjid

Afternoon one clock of 15th February 2007, Thursday in the Central Masjid of Koforidua, the Headquarter of Eastern Region of Ghana, the most peaceful country in Africa. I am one of those waiting for the Jamaat Salaat. Suddenly I noticed the donation box with `Fi Sabillillah' written on it. I took out some money and went up to put the money in the box. I was inspired by the seeming transparency of the financial transactions as seen in the display on a board.As I put in the money and turn around to be confronted by a number of beggars present amidst those waiting for the Jamaat Salaat I felt guilty of not giving something to them as well. But my personal budget allocation for donation for the day has exhausted. I remain confused as to whether I have done the right thing or not. As it is, the money in the donation box or anything of any masjid fund I know of does not go to the needy. But all of it goes either to the construction or maintenance of the buildings, or the salary of the Imaam, the Muezzin, the cleaner etc. However the giving to the beggars has also led to the breeding of a class of beggars across the Muslim world. Wherever I go whether in Asia or Africa I am confronted with begging hands, chants and bowls inside and in front of masjids. I have even heard or read many stories of gangs thriving on beggary by amputating the parts of human bodies and placing them at convenient spots and collecting the money from their victims at the end of the day. So should I give to beggars or should I not? On the one hand the Islamic teachings insist on giving to those who ask for help and on the other hand it prohibits begging. What happens if by not giving I anger my Lord Creator and the Master of my fate? Or what happens if by giving I contribute to the crimes of those who are thriving on beggary or simply encourages people to beg? A great dilemma, is it not?

Why not we use some of the money with the masjid fund to help the poor in the locality? If every masjid committee takes up the job, most of the poor will be engaged in some enterprise or the other. Thus beggary may disappear from the Muslim community anywhere around the world. There can be federations of masjid-based communities at various levels which can even take up other essential services of the community like health, education, housing, livelihood, security. We can have energized and enterprising community down to the most remote and grassroot level. What a great scenario it will be! As the neighbourhood masjid based communities gain confidence in their group enterprise, more and more percentages of personal contribution is likely to flow into the common coffer which will spur the group to undertake bigger and more adventurous enterprises and projects.

May be in some parts of the world, already some such efforts are already underway. If so, can you please share your experiences so that we all can learn from each other.

In one of our experiments, three of us met every week and formed a fund to help the needy. None of us were well to do. One was a salaried employee, another a daily labour, while the third a marginal farmer.. During the course of our 12 years of work we could help at least 5-6 poorest families from time to time. We found them to be either widows or physically incapable. In our village which is in a very remote area in one of the Indian states bordering Myanmar (formerly Burma) there are six masjids and 400 plus households. Imagine the situation if all the households are involved in helping their 5/6 poorest families. They can literally feed them out of their hands or provide employment or still invest in them to run micro-businesses. We discovered that it is not the lack of resources but the lack of imagination and initiatives which keeps us away from the desired life we all want live. Looking up to others or foreigners to solve our problems is keeing us away from what we can do ourselves, and which is immense.

Salah Times

About Me

"Whoever kills another one without justifiable cause, surely he is killing all of humanity. And whoever saves the life of another one, surely he saves the lives of all of humanity. [Sura Al Ma'aidah: Ayah 32]"

"Waste no time debating what a good Muslim should be. Be one! "

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